


This charade's never going to last

by kittybenzedrine



Category: Umbrella Academy
Genre: Agender Ben Hargreeves, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Klaus/Ben if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-05-31 16:31:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6477655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittybenzedrine/pseuds/kittybenzedrine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I saw things that I shouldn't have tonight</p>
            </blockquote>





	This charade's never going to last

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from The Academy Is...'s song, Coppertone
> 
> Idea taken from another of their songs, Rumored Nights

The sound of Klaus' bedroom door opening was muffled from where he was in his closet, but audible no less. He continued to dig through his clothes, listening for whoever had entered his room

"Klaus?" He heard Ben call in a hushed tone. "Klaus, are you in here?"

He leaned out of the small walk in area, gripping the wood for balance. "Yeah, I'm here, wh-"

"Shhhhh!" Ben hissed, coming across the room and taking him by the shoulders. Startled, Klaus stumbled back.

Ben followed him in, closing the door behind the two of them. The bare bulb in the tiny room illuminated their face, which immediately gave way to a panicked expression. They gripped Klaus' shoulders, a wild look in their green eyes.

"You have to keep your voice quiet. Dad can't hear me, like, he absolutely can't know I spoke about this," they whispered, the sound of their voice muffled by the walls of fabric surrounding the two of them.

Their grip tightened, and Klaus winced.

"Ben, you're hurting me, please let go," he murmured, humoring them by keeping his tone quiet.

He reached up and gently caressed the sides of their face, waiting until their grip eased up. Their hands hovered at different spots until they settled at taking Klaus' hands in theirs.

"Now, what the fuck is going on?"

The two sank to the floor, nestled in a mess of black shirts and worn denim. Ben continued to hold his hands for their own comfort, and Klaus let them.

Ben was hyperventilating. Klaus slowly and dramatically breathed in and out, patiently waiting until Ben caught on and slowed their breathing. Once they were calmed down, Klaus gently prodded them to speak again.

"I saw things that I shouldn't have," they told him quietly in a tight tone. The words and the way they said it was unnerving, but their expression told Klaus just how bad it was. Ben wasn't one for dramatics.

"What happened?"

Ben hung their head, still breathing too fast. Without warning, a mass of tentacles enveloped Klaus' midsection and pulled him into Ben's lap. Their pale mouth was against his ear, arms wrapped around his waist. Klaus held on around their neck, listening to their panicked breath.

"I saw things I shouldn't have," they repeated lowly. "I- I saw things about the Hotel, and about Dad. He isn't... He's not human, Klaus. It's a mask. I saw what was underneath and _he saw me._ He knows I know."

Klaus' brain took a moment to process. More tentacles swarmed him, wrapping around him like a comfort mechanism, while Ben's nails bit into his skin through his shirt. He turned, putting his mouth to Ben's ear to whisper back.

"... What the fuck?"

"Dad is an alien. I saw him. This, this mask thing he was wearing, it was off. And I don't know what the hell was going on, but there was... I don't know what it was, but I could see the Hotel through it. I backed out and closed the door as soon as I realized what was happening, but Dad had seen me by then."

Ben was shaking, holding onto Klaus like a lifeline.

"Klaus, I wasn't supposed to see that. I don't know what he's going to do to me, but he's going to do something. You know there's consequences if..." They trailed off, letting out a pained breath.

Yeah, Klaus knew something bad would happen. Diego lost his eye because of insubordination. A fight gone wrong. A fight secretly set up by their father.

Space lost his body because failure was not an option. Even though it wasn't his fault the the ship malfunctioned and exploded, he was still punished for it.

Allison's copy lost her life for sneaking out, and doing what she'd been trained to do since she learned to talk: She lied. And she was killed by the Murder Magician. Who was led to Allison by none other than their father.

Ben had just seen what was probably their dad's biggest secret.

"Okay, okay," Klaus said slowly, trying to think of something. "Just... Try to stay around me for the next few days. Sleep in my room and all that. I'll watch out for you the best I can. Keep playing like you're blissfully ignorant."

"Klaus, I'm so scared. He's gonna do something to me and it's going to be bad," Ben whimpered, holding tight to the redhead.

"It'll be okay," Klaus told them, lightly stroking their hair. "I'll do my best. Like I said, play ignorant. I won't make it obvious that I'm trailing you more than normal like the little stalker I am."

"I'm sorry if I just put you in danger by telling you this."

"Danger or not, I'm not going to make you suffer alone with all of this."

 

 

The following two weeks were rather quiet. Ben did as Klaus said, and played ignorant. They cheerfully greeted their father every morning like usual, earning the usual distasteful don't-call-me-dad.

Klaus, in secret, had written down what Ben had told him. He read it and reread it until it was burned into his memory, and stuffed the paper into the left toe of a pair of shoes in his closet, just in case.

True to his word, he let Ben sleep in his room, followed them around, even arranged it to where they went on missions together. He heard murmurs from the others, whispers that he looked like a puppy in love, much like Diego had with Vanya. So he got the okay from Ben, and played it up to make it look more believable. He was protecting Ben so fiercely because he was in love, not because Ben was in danger! Of course!

At the mark of fifteen days after what Ben had seen, they were all called into one of the basement labs, separately. Space, being the golden boy, stood solemnly next to their father while the older man berated each of his children for their poor monthly performance. Like clockwork.

He called them in order of their numbers. Klaus, after his, shook off the verbal abuse as best he could. Ben waited nervously, and Klaus gently assured them that it would be alright.

"I'll be just outside the door. It'll be fine," Klaus told them, giving their larger hand a squeeze.

 

 

What happened after, and the next three days, were all a blur after that. All Klaus knew for sure is that Ben was presumed dead after entering the lab.

None of them knew what happened, other than it was Hargreeves' and Luther's fault. He knew it had to do with what Ben saw. He knew it for a fact, but didn't have an ounce of proof. Not even the note would help.

The best he could do was remember. He had to remember what Ben told him. As he was moving out, with the piece of paper in his pocket, he hissed a dangerous series of words into his father's ear.

"I know what Ben saw."

And he left, not caring about the potential consequences that his words carried. And he remembered. Long after he'd stuffed the note into another shoe, in his own home, he remembered. It was important to him to remember what had happened, to keep Ben's last and biggest secret.

Klaus remembered it for three years after, until he accidentally overdosed on drugs and had a series of seizures.

And then he didn't remember anymore. In fact, he didn't even know he'd forgotten anything.

 

 

After what had happened with Vanya, he spent a few days at his own home. Most of his shoes had gone up in flames with the Hargreeves manor, so he wanted to look through the few pairs he has left.

One pair was much larger than what would fit his feet. A battered pair of running shoes. It took him a few moments to finally recognize they were Ben's. Huh. He was glad he'd hung onto some of Ben's things, but why a beat up pair of running shoes?

He picked the left shoe up, as it was closer. The toe of it crinkled. He furrowed his brows, giving it a squeeze. It sounded like paper.

Cautiously, he reached inside. The tips of his fingers were met with paper, which he pulled out.

It was folded oddly, more crumpled than anything. He gently undid the folds, trying not to tear it. It was a simple sheet of notebook paper, with his own familiar scrawl in black ink.

He read it and reread it until it was burned into his memory. Dad was an alien in a mask. Ben had seen the hotel through some kind of portal thing. Dad knew that Ben knew, and Ben was in trouble.

Klaus read it a few more times as he slowly made his way to the bathroom. The light in there was much stronger than in the closet.

He stood over the sink, reading the last line. He set the paper in the sink, patting himself down to search for his cigarettes and lighter. Once he found them, he lit the heavy Zippo and set fire to the corner of the letter. He watched until the paper was nothing but ash in the bottom of the sink.

"What the fuck was I on when I wrote that shit?" He muttered to himself as the rinsed the ash down the drain. He shrugged to himself. He didn't remember writing it. For all he knew, he'd written that after a fucked up dream.

He went back to digging through his shoes after that. He forgot about the note shortly after when he began drinking.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea why I make things sad, but I do. The ending was supposed to be all up lifting and avenging and stuff. It wasn't supposed to be sad, but it is and I am sorry.


End file.
